NIMSSU pdate March2009

							NIMSS Update (March 2009)

1. The NIMSS Oversight Committee met via teleconference on January 20, 2009.

The following issues were discussed:

   Request by CSREES to share NIMSS data for their management dashboard:
    Dr. Dan Rossi and Rubie Mize met with CSREES-ISTM staff Bill Bristow, John Mingee and
    Joe Barbano on November 19, 2008, at the NERA office. Discussion centered on sharing the
    NIMSS data with CSREES for use in their management dashboard and pre-populating the
    CRIS standard forms.

    Three options were explored:
       i.CSREES will build a web service [ColdFusion function] whereby we can upload data to
         their system. Whenever a new project is approved, NIMSS will call the web service and
         upload data to the CSREES system.
      ii.NIMSS Programmer, Judy Sun, can build a text file preferably in xml format and we will
         have a schedule upload/schedule download. CSREES will use a http:request function
         that Judy will build into our system – a CF command to insert data in the CSREES
         database.
     iii.Move the entire NIMSS database to the CSREES Oracle server. CSREES was willing to
         pursue this option as this will greatly facilitate the ease of using the NIMSS data.

    As an immediate recourse and to help CSREES populate their management dashboard
    database, a CD data dump of NIMSS was obtained from the Univ. of MD – OIT and was
    given to CSREES on December 18, 2008. Subsequently, CSREES asked for the codes used
    for the multistate summary table in NIMSS so they can re-build the table. This was given to
    them on January 5, 2009.

    On January 14, a third request was received from CSREES for the entire NIMSS folder. This
    was raised with the Oversight Committee as this now pertains to copyright issues. The
    Committee suggested looking into the copyright issues and suggested drawing up a
    Memorandum of Agreement with CSREES if a decision is made to share the NIMSS
    program.

   A draft of the NRSP-1 proposal has been submitted by CSREES and currently being worked
    on. This is a good opportunity to give our input and lay out the direction for NRSP-1 in the
    next 5 years. The members want to see value added in the new project.

   Lead Advisor Mike Vayda had endorsed the request for FY09-10 off-the-top funding for
    NRSP-1 in the amount of $346,829 which includes $50,000 for NIMSS.

2. Successful user requests increased by 150% since the last NIMSS Update on Sept. 2008.
   User requests in Jan.-Feb. 2009 averaged about 198,000 per week. Data transferred per week
   averaged to about 4.11 GB.
3. Active multistate projects and activities currently recorded in NIMSS by region:

   North Central =    103   [NC=43, NCAC=14, NCCC=16, NCDC=5, NCERA=25]
   Northeast =         35   [NE=25, NEA=1, NECC=6, NEERA=2]
   Southern =          73   [S=34, SAC=11, SCC=7, SDC=1, SERA=20]
   Western =           72   [W=35, WCC=2, WDC=2, WERA=33]
   NRSPs =              7
      Total =         290


Respectfully submitted by:
Rubie G. Mize, February 17, 2009